Iran’s Bitcoin Volume Soars as Rial Value Enters ‘Death Spiral’

Iran’s national currency has crashed to its record low against the U.S. Dollar as the country prepares to face economic sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.

The Iranian Rial, which was just beginning to gain momentum after years of depreciation, set a new low on Monday, trading on an average at 100,000 Rials on the black market. Many Iranians are now agitated that their economy will collapse. The sentiment has furthered because of Iranian authorities’ decision to impose restrictions on foreign currency transactions. The authorities have also started a crackdown on those attempting to circumvent restrictions by purchasing gold coins in the black market.

Stuck between a depreciating national currency and strict law enforcement agencies, some Iranians are reportedly turning to bitcoin and similar decentralized assets to elude sanctions. Since May 2018, when the U.S. announced its sanctions against Tehran, bitcoin trading volume within the country has experienced a marked uptick, though it is still far below the all-time high it set last December. Around the same time, local media had claimed that Iranians had sent over $2.5 billion out of their land to purchase bitcoin and other digital currencies.

One Iranian, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed that she has been purchasing some bitcoins every month out of her salary as a protective measure against U.S. sanctions.

“I started purchasing Bitcoin, and even Ethereum, thinking Iranian central bank will not be able to resolve the poor economic situation,” she told CCN. “I had read many reports about Chinese and Venezuelan people doing the same at the time of their economic crisis.”

She has also confirmed that Rial price dropped heavily against bitcoin in the underground market, stating she was asked the equivalent of as much as $20,000 to purchase 1 BTC by the same dealer who was selling it for $10,000 only the last month.

In international markets, the bitcoin price against USD is around $8,130 at press time.

National Cryptocurrency a Solution?

Iran, despite banning bitcoin and similar digital currencies in April this year, had announced that it will launch its own national cryptocurrency. Just very recently, the Iranian government confirmed that they have created a national encryption key which would employ blockchain technology.

Nevertheless, U.S. believes that efforts to bypass their sanctions will be in vain, for they apply to people and organizations, not assets. The Trump administration has made clear that those who would form business ties with Iran would be enmeshed by sanctions.

A similar attempt made by Venezuela by launching an oil- and mineral reserves-backed cryptocurrency, the Petro, has not gone too well. It has dropped from its initial sale price of $60 to the current price of $16.50, with minimal demand from global markets.

"Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

"Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."

Another country the US is targeting experincing financial problems. I am sure it is because they did not embrace the free market(aka using a socialist economic policy

You can maintain power over people, as long as you give them something. Rob a man of everything, and that man will no longer be in your power.Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Originally Posted by LibertyEagle

Trust principles; not people.

My Che avatar is my unique way of giving a big middle finger to the, the neocons, the globalists, imperialists and most importantly to the left and right political establishment who hate his guts till this day. My admiration for him ends where his anti imperialist pro communism ideology starts.

No, what makes them vulnerable is he economic sanction put on them. Remember how the CIA used Chile's private owned bus system to undermine the economy. So yes, they can easily hurt you with or without a capitalist form of govt.

Btw, bitcoin is down 8% on the week. One of the posts last week about crime and religion, u correctly pointed out that correlation does not imply causation. This time around, u were blind to that fact and I only have to wonder why that happened.

You can maintain power over people, as long as you give them something. Rob a man of everything, and that man will no longer be in your power.Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Originally Posted by LibertyEagle

Trust principles; not people.

My Che avatar is my unique way of giving a big middle finger to the, the neocons, the globalists, imperialists and most importantly to the left and right political establishment who hate his guts till this day. My admiration for him ends where his anti imperialist pro communism ideology starts.

The sanctions make them more vulnerable to the sanctions? How does that work?

Originally Posted by juleswin

Remember how the CIA used Chile's private owned bus system to undermine the economy. So yes, they can easily hurt you with or without a capitalist form of govt.

But socialism/communism makes an economy more brittle and vulnerable.

Originally Posted by juleswin

Btw, bitcoin is down 8% on the week. One of the posts last week about crime and religion, u correctly pointed out that correlation does not imply causation. This time around, u were blind to that fact and I only have to wonder why that happened.

Where have I said anything about causation? All I said here is that socialism makes an economy more vulnerable.

Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

Robert Heinlein

Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

Groucho Marx

I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

Linus, from the Peanuts comic

You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

Alexis de Torqueville

Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

"Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

"Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."

Again, shouldn't it be going gangbusters with the Rial continuing its losing streak?

You can maintain power over people, as long as you give them something. Rob a man of everything, and that man will no longer be in your power.Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Originally Posted by LibertyEagle

Trust principles; not people.

My Che avatar is my unique way of giving a big middle finger to the, the neocons, the globalists, imperialists and most importantly to the left and right political establishment who hate his guts till this day. My admiration for him ends where his anti imperialist pro communism ideology starts.

Where have I said anything about causation? All I said here is that socialism makes an economy more vulnerable.

The point is that you did not call out an obvious case of correlation not causation fallacy. You called it out in the other thread but for some convenient reason did not do so for this thread.

You can maintain power over people, as long as you give them something. Rob a man of everything, and that man will no longer be in your power.Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Originally Posted by LibertyEagle

Trust principles; not people.

My Che avatar is my unique way of giving a big middle finger to the, the neocons, the globalists, imperialists and most importantly to the left and right political establishment who hate his guts till this day. My admiration for him ends where his anti imperialist pro communism ideology starts.

The point is that you did not call out an obvious case of correlation not causation fallacy. You called it out in the other thread but for some convenient reason did not do so for this thread.

I don't happen to believe there is no causation involved but I don't know enough to say so, therefore I didn't say anything about causation either way.
There are many different factors that affect the price of Bitcoin but it is certainly possible that some Iranians who believe in it contributed to its rise with a temporary buying rush as the rial began its decent.

In any case I have not been appointed the site's official fallacy slayer so you can't demand that I point it out every time the difference between causation and correlation is relevant, go ahead and do it yourself if you think it needs doing.

Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

Robert Heinlein

Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

Groucho Marx

I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

Linus, from the Peanuts comic

You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

Alexis de Torqueville

Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

Year to date down 56% (granted a year ago was about the top of the most recent bubble topped out on December 17th at $19,000). As of right now it is actually down for the past one month ($6700 to $6300). It is heading down today- dropping $400 so far.

Bitcoin Breaks Through Support at $6,800, Hits Low of $6,175
“Stormy” could be a word used to describe the state of the market, but to some this description of the market may be a smidge too kind.

Bitcoin fell to nearly $600 from $7,100 just yesterday as the SEC announced that it would be delaying its verdict on the VanEck-backed ETF. While it broke the vital $6,800 support, which many technicians see as a key level which Bitcoin should hold, it looked like it found someplace to stand in the ~$6,500 range.

However, as the market moved into Wednesday morning, Bitcoin tumbled further, catching many investors with their pants down at the ~$6,175 level.

While the aforementioned decline from $7,100 to $6,500 made sense, many were caught off guard with this drop, with it being unclear whether there was a catalyst for this most recent $300 candle to the downside.

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"Yeah, I have to say these guys(trolls) are pretty sharp. Sort of good to get a challenge and sharpen your thoughts." NorthCarolinaLiberty

Year to date down 56% (granted a year ago was about the top of the most recent bubble topped out on December 17th at $19,000). As of right now it is actually down for the past one month ($6700 to $6300). It is heading down today- dropping $400 so far.

"Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

"Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."